Huge thanks to Jane, our Assistant Administrator who kindly stepped in last week and attended a Mole Valley Charities promotional event in Dorking. Unfortunately, the event wasn’t well attended but never-the-less Jane produced a wonderful set up and took our new publicity banners on their first outing! Jane reports ‘huge banner kudos’ as ours was the only one not to fall over!
At Dyscover, we support whole families affected by aphasia in a variety of ways, including Conversation Partner Training. During Carers’ Week, this week, we held one of our regular family support meetings and were delighted to welcome our youngest attendees to date, with a multigenerational family presence from two of our families.
Some of our expert ambassadors (all former teachers and lecturers themselves) created a survey this week whilst acting in a Public Patient Inclusion (PPI) capacity.
Targeting those teaching SLT students, the survey asks if people with #aphasia are included in their teaching? This is part of a research project these ambassadors are working on with University College London (UCL) in an active Public Patient Interaction capacity – shaping change for the future.
Dyscover launched the first Accessible Gymnastics Course last week after a long period of planning and development with Leatherhead and Dorking Gymnastics Club.
A warm up followed by a circuit of different challenges that all Members tried and then moved on to the trampoline at the end.
The Wednesday afternoon group said goodbye to Psychology students Liberty and Heather, who while on placement at QEF, have been volunteers in the group this term. Thanks to her experience here, Liberty is now hoping to train as a Speech & Language Therapist, while Heather is considering her options. They gained invaluable insights into aphasia through getting to know members like Gerry (pictured). Volunteer Jane brought in her wonderful lemon cupcakes for the occasion. They said that they would never forget their time here. Thank you Liberty and Heather – keep in touch!
Dyscover supports long-term recovery after stroke and peer support is a crucial part of the progress our Members make. Many of our Wednesday morning group have returned to driving post-stroke and Sarah (member for over 4 years) was thrilled to pass her driving test and become one of them.
Sarah drove herself to Dyscover for the first time last week, and was delighted to show her friends her new adpated car. “Here I am at last!! I am so excited about driving again! It’s a milestone !”.
Kingston members recently enjoyed an informative and entertaining talk from Ben White, Discovery and Access Learning Coordinator at Kew Gardens. Ben regaled the members with fascinating stories about the history, conservation and plants at Kew: members were intrigued to learn about the Wood Cycad, the world’s loneliest tree (the only specimen of its kind) and the Titan Arum which flowers only rarely and stinks of rotten flesh!
Ben answered questions on a wide range of topics from members – from pruning the trees and cleaning the glasshouse windows to the damage done by the Great Storm 1987 and even whether it was possible to stand on the waterlilies (apparently the larger ones could take the weight of a small child but the risk of a painful fall is too great!).
Golf is one of our most popular ‘Challenge’ activities and returns after Easter at our new venue – Betchworth Park Golf Club.
Karl, our professional coach, met with Suzanne and Barry last week to plan the summer course. Clearly both golfers are bursting with enthusiasm to get going!
Beautiful Places
We asked Members to share information about the most beautiful places they have visited. Nial drew on his expertise as a media editor to write a short quiz. One photo was of a landmark with the main feature removed. Where on earth is this place? Then the answer was revealed.
Giving Members the opportunity to share their skills and knowledge in our group sessions is key to Dyscover’s philosophy of building and enriching life participation thereby promoting and improving long term stroke recovery.
Thursday AM and PM members were given a thought-provoking team challenge in their session last week. They had to pick 5 items from a selection of objects to help them survive in the desert following a plane crash.
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